Illinois is experiencing MODERATE to locally HEAVY levels of migration tonight, meaning tomorrow morning should be a stellar morning to get out, go birding, and look for new arrivals and influxes! Movement can be seen by the widespread blue and even green (indicating heavy avian concentrations) radar noise on the current national composite radar (http://tempest.aos.wisc.edu/radar/us3comp.gif).
Tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon into tomorrow night, winds will shift to being out of the southwest for most of the state, meaning lower concentrations of birds will be moving once again tomorrow night. This means you should really get out tomorrow morning, but Sunday should be less productive with regards to arrivals and turnover.
Migration is definitely metamorphosing across the state as warblers are on the way out, sparrows such as Nelson's are just starting to peak, Purple Finches and Siskins are appearing, American Pipits are making their presence known, hawks are beginning to move (but tomorrow shouldn't be noteworthy with regards to hawk watching), and even waterfowl are showing signs of movement - especially in the more northern parts of the state.
Hawk Watching Forecast: Tomorrow, winds are forecast to be out of the southwest across northeast Illinois, meaning hawks and other raptors will not be migrating in huge numbers due to the unfavorable headwinds.
A few species for which to look in the next week or so:
Aquatic birds - Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, American Black Duck, Northern Shoveler, Wilson's Snipe
Passerines (songbirds) - Rusty Blackbird, Purple Finch, Pine Siskin, American Pipit, Orange-crowned Warbler, Nelson's Sparrow, Le Conte's Sparrow, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren,
To predict exactly which species you are likely to encounter and when, please consult:
BirdCast's regional migration forecast for this week: http://birdcast.info/forecast/regional-migration-forecast-9-16-october-2015/#MidwestNortheast
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eBird's species occurrence chart for Illinois: http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?src=changeDate&getLocations=states&states=US-IL&parentState=US-IL&reportType=location&monthRadio=on&bMonth=08&eMonth=11&bYear=1900&eYear=2015&continue.x=63&continue.y=9&continue=Continue
Go birding tomorrow (Saturday) morning!
Henry (Oak Park, Cook County)
trumpetswan@comcast.net
ilmigration.blogspot.com
worldbirding.travellerspoint.com
sites.google.com/site/opbirdwalks/
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